Memory Loss Reversed In Lab Test On Mice

When memory is lost due to dementia such as Alzheimer's disease, is it gone for good? Scientists probed that idea in lab tests on mice. The mice were bred to develop a progressive dementia similar to Alzheimer's disease. The researchers were able to create mice with a gene that could be "turned off." Symptoms of Alzheimer's disease occur when brain nerve cells that process information and memory degenerate and die. Abnormalities such as amyloid plaque accumulate on nerve cells and tangles of proteins -- called tau -- form in nerve cells.